Labor ministers coasting to election: LNP

An election needs to be called so Queenslanders don't have to put up with ministers who are coasting until their retirement, the Liberal National Party says.

Police and Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts on Monday became the third minister and the eighth Labor MP to announce retirement at the next election, due in March 2012.

Already Attorney-General Paul Lucas, Speaker John Mickel, Judy Spence, Robert Schwarten, Desley Boyle, Stephen Robertson and Lindy Nelson-Carr have said they would not contest the election.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Tim Nicholls says too many ministers are just warming the seats until the election.

"I think that the thing for the premier to do would be to give a very clear signal of when the next election will be called so the people of Queensland can have a choice on whether this is appropriate behaviour, (as we) have three ministers who are obviously in cruise control on the way to the next election," he told reporters in Brisbane.

Labor will lose 133 years' experience with the outgoing MPs.

Premier Anna Bligh defended losing some of her most experienced MPs and said she didn't believe their loss would hurt Labor's election chances.

Labor has 51 MPs and only eight are leaving at the next election, she says.

"I think that's a pretty reasonable turnover rate and in fact means that I can go to the next election with a young, energetic and hungry team," she told reporters.

"I am very comfortable about the fact that I go to the next election with a number of electorates with new candidates.

"Renewal in politics is absolutely vital."

She applauded Mr Roberts for being a steady pair of hands in tough portfolios, especially during the summer of natural disasters.

Mr Roberts has held the safe Labor seat of Nudgee since 1995.

He said if he was younger he would run again but wants to take his life in a new direction.

"I am 57-years-old in January, and I have eight years of full-time work ahead of me before I retire," he said in a statement.

"I would like to pursue a new career and now is the right time for me to do that."